"The Dark Stranger"
© VeGirl 2014

Shudders run through my body. "What do you mean we're going home?" I look worried around to make sure that nobody has seen us.

Vincent smiled. "You haven't dug down into the deep well of memories? Not even when spending time with two witches?"

The high and mighty smile on his face annoys the hell out of me and my open curious face is now frowning in irritation. "No need to be rude. Where have you been?"

"I've been seeing your parents. They are anxious to see you."

"You've been in Phoenix?" I snarl irritated only to see his smile widen.

"Not those parents; you're true parents, princess."

My irritation simply evaporates or perhaps runs off of me. My biological parents?

"They haven't seen you in a long time."

I stand there, looking at him in utter astonishment. "I don't understand..."

"You will soon, just relax and I will tell you." He gives me a soft kiss and my inside trembles. "Let's get you out of here." I follow him suit with a feeling that I've forgotten something crucial.

"Eddie!"

Vincent turns towards the building we are leaving. He closes his eyes and the translucent light flutters before it pops off like a broken bubble. Wasn't that what I looked like in Damian's eyes? "So, now she knows that you have left." Vincent says and I stand there with my mouth hanging open.

"What...?"

"What happened?"

"What are you?"

He smiles. "I'm an angel."

"Angel?"

"Yes..."

"You're telling me that you're an angel?" My lips curl upwards.

"I say that you're an angel."

My brows fly up. "You're kidding!"

"I most certainly am not."

"You're an angel... and I'm an angel?" I didn't know what to say. This was prepostous! "Angels have long dresses and halos. They certainly don't curse like me."

Vincent starts to laugh at me. "You've at least got one thing right."

Anger suddenly boils inside me and threatens to explode. "You're mocking me!" I snap and glare at him before I turn on my heel and walk away, willing myself not to stomp my feet's. The path is gravelled and even if I had stomped my feet, It would have made no difference. The rocks grind against each other, making a tell-tale noise of where I'm heading.

"Samira..." Vincent is suddenly standing a few steps in front of me and I almost walk right into his muscular chest.

I gasp. "How did you...?"

"Don't walk away from me."

"How did you do that?" I command with ire. "How did you teleport like a frickin' vampire?"

Vincent snickers. "Like an angel you mean?"

"Stop making fun of me," I snarl and do a good effort of walking past him.

No surprise that he has other ideas and grabs my arm to spin me towards him. "I would never make fun of you." His smile has vanished to be replaced by a severe and solemn face I have never seen before. "You are finally entitled to the truth; you are an angel."

Tears forms in my eyes. I am tired and my emotions have been stretched so far that they are about to snap.

"Come; I'll get you out if here." With the soft comforting tone of voice, he puts his arm around my shoulder and I am instantly comforted. I let him lead me along the paths and somehow we are on the front of the house where a familiar black vintage car stands.

"You're taking Damian's car?" I hiss and a wicked smile takes place in Vincent's face. "That's what he gets for trying to hit on you. You smell like a fairy," he mimics Damian's voice. "He had it coming! He should be glad that I didn't punch his light out." He holds the door open for me.

Almost with my breath held, I slide into the car and am instantly surrounded by a deep scent of leather. The old car was surprisingly clean and fresh inside and it felt luxurious.

Vincent almost grins around as he takes place behind the steering wheel and pick the key out from behind the sunscreen. "There you are..." He smirks and turns the key. The engine roar to life and even a non-car interested girl like me gets the shills in a good way. Vincent chuckles darkly in the same key that the engine produced as we roll out of the driveway of this mansion.

I can feel a grin spread on my own face. "Perhaps it isn't as weird as I thought..."

Vincent laughs freely and I am amazed by the dimple that appears on his face. "I told you so."

The laughter is contagious and soon I am laughing freely with him. It feels absolutely amazing to have him back again. This fabulous car is both modern and old and Vincent fits right in there; he is somehow timeless. I sit there musing about how he has been, during the ride home. Soon he stops outside his house and frustration bubbles inside me again.

"So... enough with the witty; what am I?" I sigh glum as Vincent opens the door for me to get out.

"You're my angel..."

I glare at him with one my best death-stares historically.

"With an angel for a mother and an angel for a father you are something as rare as a purebred," he informs while I press my brows low enough to shade my eyes. "You're an angel of The Lord."

I don't know if surprise, anger or curiosity is the main feeling going through me. "How can I be an angel...?"

Vincent laughs and shows no surprise as he lead me through the new exterior of his house.

"Did you know this?" I gesture widely around while climbing the stairs. "The extreme makeover."

"Yeah I noticed..." He smiles. "I don't know what she had against the old look."

I raise my brows. "Yeah who wouldn't want to live in a ramshackle?" The sarcasm level was dangerously high.

"I've missed that sarcasm, and I've definitely missed you." He wraps his arms around me while kicking the door shut. "I intend to make that up to you."

"Oh please don't!" Esme's voice interrupts us in a brutal way.

"Haven't you left the scene of the crime yet?"

"Crime? Are you talking about the makeover?" She narrows her eyes and bend her head slightly to the side to pierce him with a glum look. The wicked smile reveales that she is just teasing. "Yes I'm still here so if you'd please less the bawdiness, I'd appreciate it."

"Forget it, I'll ravish her either you're in the room or not."

"I'd appreciate if you're not..." I think it is important to speak my mind in this particular matter.

"I couldn't agree more. I am however here in a completely different matter. What did they say?"

Vincent stops himself and with a short glance in my direction he keeps his eyes firmly on Esme. "They said that if I didn't bring her back they'd drag me back up there and I'd be sentenced true death."

* * *

The night is filled with desperation that Vincent will be taken from me. I can't be close enough to him. I want him surrounding my senses completely; his jasmine scent fills my head as well as his skin makes my nerve-ends tingle. I want him around me and inside of me and he is only too happy to oblige.

I wake up next morning, still entangled tight together with him. I don't want to ever get out of bed, but still I am anxious to get going.

Had they really threatened to kill him if I didn't get back?

Where was I even going?

"Are you worried?" he asks and pulls me even closer.

For a moment I ponder to pull a faux shipper face, but decide to go for honesty. "Yes," I exhale. "I'm worried about you."

"That's sweet of you, but I'll be alright. Your mother surely will budge for my charm," he tease.

"You're the one who knows her; I haven't the slightest memory of her." I notice the slightly butter tone in my voice. "Will I even recognize her?"

"Your memory will return as we get back," he assures and I am tremendously grateful to hear that he will come with me.

It is not the fact that I want to leave, nor is it the longing for my parents which I have had since I found out that I was adopted, but I want to know. I want to know why I have never longed to get back there, and why I don't even remember it.

"We better get this over with." I disentangle from the warm cocoon of our unity. "So we can get back."

He makes an incoherent sound that feels ominous in this context.

My stomach is in a huge knot through the shower and breakfast and soon we are in Vincent's car; heading through the now familiar secret passage between our worlds.

The smell is pungent and hits me the moment we arrive in this never-never land. Moist moss, pine-needles and mushrooms is comforting and feels like home. I am on my way to a home I have no recollection of and that I have forgotten completely.

Home is where the heart is.

How can it be home if I don't even remember it; my heart clearly isn't there.

He has my hand in a tight grip while we walk up a hill and Vincent start to look around as if to find a special place. "I think it is here." He walks to our left to a clear spot. There is a humming feeling that makes me start to shiver and there seems to be an optical illusion.

A colorful translucence is flickering around us and amazed I watch as it protrudes around Vincent. Wide-eyed and amazed I look at this flickering light before I realize that it beams just as much from me and not just from Vincent.

"Are you ready?" He seems anxious to take off and that scares me a little, but I decide to pretend that has no effect on me.

I nod.

"Okay..." He smiles and takes a step closer so he'll be able to put his arms around me. "Let's go." He bends his legs and gestures for me to do the same. With an intense facial expression we both stomp off from the ground and to my surprise we continue upwards instead of returning like a normal jump would.

The gravity of the earth is out of order and we continue upwards.

With a feeling that is totally impossible to describe, I find myself in motion as if I was in a powerful elevator. Soon my ears are starting to hurt painfully and I feel nauseous.

The light blue sky is gradually getting darker and darker and the only sound is wind blowing past my ears as we leave the atmospheric gravity on our quest. My eyes are squinted half closed but the little I see of the earth is breathtaking before I start to feel lightheaded.

I am extremely grateful that I have Vincent to hold on to, but I feel that I am slipping away and notice that his grip on me tightens before everything gets black.

* * *

When I wake up, I lay in the softest bed I have ever spent time in; it feels like I am flowing. I hear muted whispers before my eyes flicker open.

Everything is so bright it seems like white, but there are so many colors that I can't remember that I have ever seen. It is a whole new spectrum of colors and somewhere deep in my conscience I recall a time far away when this was familiar to me.

Have I been here before?

To shield myself from the light, I close my eyes and try to visualize my surrounding. Instinctively I know that the door on my left leads to a vast walking closet with adjacent bathroom. The wall by my feet has a door that leads to a hallway and I know that it leads to a wide staircase downstairs.

I want Vincent here, where is he?

'I'll be right there.' I hear his voice inside my head and soon I hear the door open. My eyes snap open to find him smilingly walk towards me and slide into my bed. "Hi darling, I thought you would never wake up." His voice sounds nothing like before, and albeit I am filled with relief to have him here, his voice sounds cold.

"I am so glad that you're here." I flinch at the sound of my own voice. It is tinkling light and bright in the way I remember in the old stone cottage with Vincent. I snuggle closer to him, comforted by his presence and determined to ignore the feeling. "Have you been here before?"

"In your bedroom?" Mirth is lacing his voice and sparkle in his eyes to comfort me. "I would have been beheaded and thrown out if I even tried. And besides... we've never been here at the same time."

I can't look away from his eyes. That silver blue hue I've grown familiar to is now shimmering with such a spectrum of colours that I am stunned momentarily. We are lost in the beauty of the light.

"Yeah, it's like that for me too," he whispers. "It's a long time since I used this vision."

The white colour on the walls shimmer translucent and it is almost painful for the eyes. Everything looks clean... sterile.

I slide my arms around him, snaking around his body with the urgent need of closeness. Passion fills me instantly.

"Oh, careful! Here everybody can tap into that projecting mind." He snickers and my mood disappear like a broken soapbubble. "We better get downstairs."

"Yeah, I'm hungry..."

"Are you sure?"

"What?" I feel confused, why wouldn't I know whether I'm hungry or not? Wait a minute... As I focus, I realize that I am not hungry at all. "Have I not been out that long?" I flinch again due to the fair tinkling voice that apparently is mine.

"Something like two days..."

"Two days?" I shout, worried that this might be severe. Have I been hurt or something? "What happened; was I hurt?"

Vincent snickers. "You haven't been up here for so long and the reverse trip is much more straining than the exit."

"Reverse? You mean when we get back home?"

Some strange feeling runs through him and I can't tell if it is relief or sadness. "No, that is usually a one way trip. To being cast out of heaven happens, but being called back afterwards doesn't happen to anyone but you."

I gawk even if I had my suspicions before. "Heaven...? And I'm not dead am I?"

"Luckily not," he smiles.

All air leaves my lungs in a heavy sigh. "So I'm in heaven because I'm angel?" I do my best to get a grip on this weird reality. "When I fell to earth you were there and took care of me and they killed you." I make a pause for him to nod that I have perceived it correctly. "And you were assigned as my keeper or guardian angel?"

"Not really," he admits unwillingly. "I was just assigned to bring you back." It took a lot longer than they expected though..." He smiles wickedly. "Neither you nor I wanted to get back here."

Everything he says, I know is the truth. It is as if things are slowly seeping back into my mind.

I have a hard time getting used to this new voice of his, and my own as well. Whatever any of us says echoes against the walls and sounds cold and shimming. It isn't just our voices that sounds weird; it feels like somebody has put up windchimes made from crystal and they are chiming everywhere. The sound bounces against the white walls and it is earpiercing.

"We better get you down, they are expecting you." He gets up and I finally notice that he is dressed completely in white. As I get out of my reverie, I find myself dressed in a white floorlong gown and surprised I raise my brows.

"I better get dressed. I don't want to meet my parents in a nightgown."

* * *

What I expect to be a dinner-conversation, or at least a light conversation over a cup of coffee and some biscuits, turns out to be more like a boardmeeting. People are sitting there with stiff backs and looking formal as if it is the president arriving.

"Hi..."

"Greetings fair princess."

I flinch at the words uttered without warmth. Princess... really...?

"It is nice to meet you, sorry that I don't recognize any of you." I am not sorry, but I have decided it sounds good.

"Oh, we forgot." The man at the head of the table says and snaps his finger.

Suddenly I am very aware of my mother and father's weary looks and I am also agitated as if we had just ended the conversation that made me leave.

Wow!

My mood instantly darkens and I am now irritated and glum. "You wanted to see me?" I say formal and notice that my back is just as straight as theirs. The surprise regarding my tone of voice has disappeared; this is how it's supposed to be. Why?"

"It is time for you to come back and rule by our side."

"No."

"It is not in angel nature to define." My mother purse her lips. "We've searched for you for a long time and now it is time to get back home and rule with us. This will be yours when we are no longer here."

"This as in...?"

"You have a place in this faction; a place where your voice is heard and you have a responsibility." My father cuts in with a posture as grand and adjuratory as the one that graces my mother's face.

I cannot answer. Where is the warmth and the welcoming feeling of being in... Where are we; heaven?

"I have a life, I'm staying there."

They look like I have slapped them across the face or refused an inheritance, which I somehow have. "Your place is here!"

"No it's not. I have a loving family and friends that support me. I am not staying."

I watch their eyes narrow into a grimace. "Guards!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hi there,

I am so grateful for your comments, especially @MaryStDenisOuellette, @johannakruger and @Ghalya20 for your suggestions, but sorry no fairies... angels. It's interesting to picture this heaven that everybody has an impression off. I hope your personal heaven differs from the one I describe here...

Thank you for reading!

Love, VeGirl

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